Getting fired, despite sometimes coming as a surprise and leaving you scrambling to recover, is often a godsend. Most people aren’t lucky enough to get fired and die a slow spiritual death over 30-40 years of tolerating the mediocre.
What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.
Think big and don’t listen to people who tell you it can’t be done. Life’s too short to think small.
A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.
But you are the average of the five people you associate with most, so do not underestimate the effects of your pessimistic, unambitious, or disorganized friends. If someone isn’t making you stronger, they’re making you weaker.
An entrepreneur isn’t someone who owns a business, it’s someone who makes things happen.
Lack of time is actually lack of priorities.
Fear is your friend. It is an indicator. Sometimes it shows you what you shouldn’t do, more often than not it shows you what you should do.
By working only when you are most effective, life is both more productive and more enjoyable. It’s the perfect example of having your cake and eating it, too.
I gauge success in years, not weeks. The weekend box-office approach to book launches is short sighted and encourages crappy books.
Converting your own passions into a job is the fastest method for eliminating any passion you once had.
You don’t have to travel, but I find extended travel to be a helpful tool for reexamining yourself and the constraints you’ve artificially placed on your life. It’s easy to believe everything has to be done one way if you’re always in one place around the same people.
The best results I have had in my life; the most enjoyable times, have all come from asking the simple question: ‘What is the worst that could happen?’
Requiring a lot of time does not make a task important.
Simplicity requires ruthlessness.
You can lose money and make it back, you can’t do that with time.
You think you’re fatigued, therefore you can’t exercise. In fact, you choose not to move, therefore you feel fatigued.
I’m prepared to do battle for a dream that is worth dreaming.
Luxury, to me, is not owning a lot of stuff. Luxury, to me, is feeling unrushed.
Be bold and don’t worry about what people think. They don’t do it that often anyway.
The biggest misconception about work is that you need to spend the majority of your time doing it.